The Garden - Fall Edition

I've been to two parties recently and at both people remarked about this blog, and surprisingly said they follow my exploits.  I felt kind of bad that I've not been keeping up with it, but as you know, retirement is so full of activity, who has time to write a blog.  So let me catch you up with what's been taking all of my time....HALLOWEEN and my garden.

I love Halloween.  When I was in college I would drive home from Purdue to take my younger siblings out trick or treating.  They probably don't even remember this, but I have fond memories of it.  Add this to the fact that I love to decorate and you have a recipe for spending money and time on ghosts, goblins and spiders.  In addition, I've always had the idea to live in a community where everyone knows each other.  So, what about a Halloween party to send off the ten little kids that live in our 30 building townhouse community?

My focus was on decorating the garden, our house and patio to welcome the little tykes, but not scare them to death.  Friendly ghosts, big spiders, a black cats eyes looking out two windows.  It was great fun for all.

 All of the neighbors who have kids or even furry kids showed up.  We had lots of witches, a lion, a mermaid, and a quarterback.  No one got too scared, except for the little girl who is afraid of spiders.  The kids and parents left for trick or treating and the rest of us manned the candy bowls.

Just as I had wanted, this garden is bringing the community together.  Now I am on to planning the Christmas lighting!

Elder care part 3 - and no where to go but up....

Time Warner Cable.  Just the name puts fear in my heart.  For the past month my little sister has been trying to untangle my parents' cable bill working through Time Warner Cable (TWC), the cable company that now provides exclusive services in southern Indiana.  Believe me if they weren't exclusive, I'd have pulled the plug on them this week.  But who can deny cable TV to their parents?

My parents' bill started to suddenly have a $30 fee added to it.  When little sister went to TWC offices, she was told that my mom had tried to pay the bill on line using a credit card.  As my mom does not know how to turn on a computer, sis found this a bit strange.  She also found it strange that mom has her bill paid through her bank account automatically every month, and when she pointed this out, the TWC rep insisted that she was also trying to pay it on line.  The $30 was because the on-line credit card payment was always denied.

When I got home, I went on the TWC site, then "chatted" with a number of TWC chatters.  All were quite nice, but none could make any decisions and none were at a level that they could help me.  Using their language, "It seems that this issue needs to be escalated to our escalation support team."  Not one TWC rep could answer more than one question.  This meant that I had to talk to numerous people for each issue I raised.
 

So, here are the problems:

1. Mom had paid the bill previously with a credit card.  For some reason, that card was cancelled (she probably had lost it).  So Mom changed the way she paid the bill to a direct debit from her checking account.  Since that time her bank has been paying the bill monthly.  Since that time, TWC (and its predecessor - Insight) has been trying to also pay the bill from the now defunct credit card.  Had the TWC office personnel told this to sis, we could have worked this out weeks ago.  Telling her that mom was trying to pay the bill on-line got us no where.  Additionally, sis did not know that the card was mom's since TWC would not divulge the name on the card.  She only worked this out by going back into the bills until she found the last four digits of the credit card on some other statement.
2. TWC started charging the $30 only recently.  This is what brought the problem to mom's attention.  By now she has racked up over $65 in this fee and late fees.
3. Parents bill also showed a 75 cent charge for each of five digital adapters ($3.75.month)   Although the adapters were provided for free, apparently users were told that there would be a charge in the future.  Insight provided the adapters and began charging 75 cents per adapter ($3.75/month for five) four months ago.  Then TWC took over the company and continued the 75 cent fee.  TWC website states that no fees will be charged until 2014 and then they will be 99 cents per adapter ($4.95 for five/month).  When I asked why parents were being charged in 2013, TWC rep said it is because Insight was charging them...but Insight doesn't exist any longer.  Right?  
4. The plot thickens.  TWC website shows that parents have five "digital adapters"...they have only two TVs.  I point out that parents have only 2 TVs and only 2 adapters.  How does TWC know these were provided to my parents?  How can we prove that we don't have them?  What can we do about this?  TWC answer:  pay them $100 for each of the three shown on my parents account, or continue paying $2.98 a month for the rest of their lives.  Did TWC inform customers that these adapters were worth $100 and must be returned or paid for?  Did customers sign for the adapters?  Why can't TWC identify where the adapters are being used?  One TWC rep told me that they could "see" that the adapters were being used....so surely they can "see" where they are being used....and it's not at parents' home.

So yesterday, TWC calls mom and threatens to turn off their cable if the bill is not paid.  Talk about making me angry!  Here are folks who always pay their bills, who have taken steps to make sure the bills are paid automatically, and they are threatening them?  HOW DARE YOU.

So I call TWC and I am told that they cannot talk to me because I am not listed on the account (why didn't the other TWC folks know that last week?).

Bottom line:  In this digital age, the elderly are left out to dry.  The cable bills are so difficult to read and understand--my parents' bill had 16 different itemized charges.  When the bills go up (as it did almost monthly in small increments) who would notice until it got so high that it caused concern?  That's when the kids are called in to figure it out.  By then, it is so frigging messed up that it takes me and sis many days to untangle it.  So, I'm paying the bills now and I'm getting them electronically.  TWC - I'm looking at you!

End of life as I knew it

It is the end of life as I knew it.

My beloved Washington Post has dropped my possibly even more beloved Get Fuzzy comic strip.  Donna Peremes defends her decision in today's Post, but Donna, you don't convince me.

For the past many years I have opened the comics page every morning to get my Get Fuzzy fix.  Many friends don't get the humor, but those two characters reminded me of my own boys, Chapi and Indy.  Chapi was the Satchel Pooch character.  So loving, so gullible, so naive.  Indy is my Bucky Katt guy.  He steals Chapi's food, grouches if Chapi is in "his" bed, and barks until one of us moves Chapi out of his way.  All four of them make my life so much happier.

I love to laugh and start the morning that way.  So, goodbye Post paper, hello Post on line.  Luckily, the strip will be available on line.  Post Publishers, you are killing me.....